infoTECH Feature

IBM Receives $74.4 Million Services Contract by GSA

The U.S. General Services Administration, the nation's premier federal acquisition and procurement agency, awardedIBM a $74.4 million services contract to modernize the system that federal agencies and their suppliers use to source equipment, supplies, information technology and telecommunications services.

Officials with IBM (News - Alert) said that the company will work with the GSA to design and develop a standard IT architecture that will support the agency's Integrated Acquisition Environment, which is used by hundreds of thousands of civilian and defense employees, as well as companies doing business with the U.S. federal government and other interested parties.

Company officials said that the project will include the integration of nine key GSA (News - Alert) applications into a single system - based on open source software - designed to simplify the entire acquisition and procurement process.

Thanks to the integration, GSA can provide a one-stop online resource where federal agencies and suppliers can access information ranging from approved products and services and existing GSA contracts to contractor registrations and certifications, project reports, and federal business opportunities.

By streamlining and consolidating current IAE applications into the new standard architecture, the GSA could realize significant operating cost savings.

'The GSA continues to play a central role in transforming the government's procurement process, making it easier and more cost-effective for federal agencies to acquire products and services,' Charles L. Prow, managing partner, IBM Global Business Services, Public Sector, said in a statement.

Prow said that IBM is very pleased to support this important initiative.

TMCnet recently reported that IBM, a multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporation, has acquired Intelliden Inc., a provider of intelligent network automation software that enables organizations such as telecommunications companies to configure, manage and scale their networks.

According to Intelliden (News - Alert) officials, the company provides network automation solutions, which are becoming essential for enterprises to automate the configuration of thousands of manually managed network devices like hubs, routers and switches from dozens of vendors.

Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anil’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Meet Your Big Data Storage Needs: CoraidAs businesses collect more and more data, they will require storage capabilities that are easily and secure, accessible, and quickly scalable for pure storage as well as data analytics.

Managing Your Data and Apps in Multi-Cloud Environments: Right ScaleBusinesses have reached beyond education and are starting to make signifcant cloud computing deployments, which means they need an awareness of public and private resources, which to deploy in what instances, and how to manage and maintain applications across both domains.

Enabling Cross-border Data Center Connectivity: InterxionOne of the challenges for multinational enterprises is establishing connectivity between infrastructure located on different continents. The Transatlantic Data Center Alliance helps overcome many of these challenges, including regulatory and compliance needs.